According to an article on the Venture Beat website I read recently, an Israeli start-up called Gingee has rolled out a cross-platform app development tool that will give developers the chance to create one app for devices running on iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, the eight different versions of the Android operating system and other platforms.

 

While app developers use cross-platform development tools for just 5% of the applications they develop, 68% of developers expect to be able to use those tools by 2015, according to a study from mobile market research firm Research2Guidance. However, the complexity of the app development process is limiting app makers' potential to align expectations with reality, which results in longer development periods and higher costs.

 

Gingee believes that its tool is truly cross-platform and can be even installed free of charge. The Israeli company says that its solution reduces the complexity by offering a drag-and-drop user interface, which in turn allows app makers to develop apps in a more intuitive way, without the need of coding for all Android OS versions, for iOS, BlackBerry devices and the mobile web.

 

The technology is based on an in-house algorithm which analyses object relations and links them identically to all devices and operating systems, ensuring a consistent user interface and experience across all devices. Gingee's development environment generates automatic high-end code, which can improve the speed of the app development process by 57% per operating system.

 

The company says that the solution delivers 96% native performance as it communicates directly to the operating system. An application can have hundreds of objects appearing on the screen, but this will not have a negative impact on the performance. For instance, when an operating system gets an update, app developers need to optimise their app to the latest version, but this will no longer be an issue, as with Gingee's technology this will not be needed.

 

Gingee's tool also includes a physics engine, animation editor, asset manager, social connection tools, and over 40 highly optimised, preloaded components and widgets, such as dynamic texts, buttons, scrollers and much more.

 

Gingee was founded in response to the challenges app developers face in light of the wide variety of devices, versions and operating systems, says Roei Livneh, chief executive and co-founder of Gingee.